There's An App for That

I would be willing to bet that my friends are tired of hearing this phrase come out of my mouth. Just about any problem they present to me, my response is "You know, there's an app for that."

Sometimes there's eye rolling, but sometimes they want to know what that app is. I absolutely love sharing my favorite apps with people because many of these apps have changed my life. I've been wanting to share a little round-up of the apps I crush on, but it's not easy to narrow the list down to a manageable number, so feel free to skim those that don't interest you.

Get Organized

CardStar
FREE
iPhone, Android, Windows, Blackberry, Nokia

This app has allowed me to throw away all of my membership and rewards cards and free up space in my wallet. It was a super easy process to load all my cards into the app with the built in bar code reader.

When it's time to scan my loyalty card, I just pull out my phone and the cashier scans the barcode. Also built into the app is the ability to access deals and coupons from your favorite merchants.

DataVault Password Manager

iPhone and iPad

$9.99

I am continually astonished by the people I meet who do not have a system for storing their passwords. We use passwords for everything. Important things. Not remembering passwords stresses me out.

And I have Goldfish Brain so I cannot survive without a system for storing my passwords. I've been using this particular app for years, and I can't imagine being without it. I have it on my phone and my iPad, and everything stays synched between the two.

There are other password apps out there, so I think it's worth exploring others if you are in the market anyway, because this one isn't free. However, the thought of starting over with a new app does not appeal to me, so if there's a better app out there, I maybe don't want to know about it.

As always, I choose denial.

Grocery Gadget (Shopping Lists)
iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android, Windows, Blackberry, Nokia, Amazon, Nook
$2.99 (FREE Version Available)

This is another app that we've been using for years. Peanut Head and I both have it on our phones and iPads, and Zoe and Stinkerbell have it as well. It stays synched amongst the four of us, which is an absolute necessity.

Sometimes Peanut Head and I will divide up the list to get in and out of the store faster, and we are able to tell what items the other has gotten as we check things off the list.

The girls both know that if they use the last of something, they'd better put it on the list or heads will roll.

Another cool feature is the ability to take pictures of things when we may not remember what kind we bought last time. For example, feminine hygiene products. If we are sending Peanut Head to the store for these, there had better be a picture and good notes attached, or else he can't be held responsible for what he comes home with.

Paprika Recipe Manager

iPhone, iPad, Mac*, Windows*, Android, Kindle Fire ($2.99), Nook Color

$4.99 (*$19.99 for desktop version)

I'm not going to spend too much time on this app because I've devoted an entire post to it here.

This is another app that I simply could not do without. It has greatly simplified the storage and retrieval of recipes, menu planning, and grocery shopping for us.

My only complaint is that you have to pay for the app on each additional device. In my own personal opinion, it's worth it. I have it on my desktop, laptop, iPad, and iPhone. Peanut Head and both girls have it on their devices as well, and it stays synched amongst us all. Thankfully, because we use Apple's Family Share Plan we did not have to pay separately for each of us to have it on our phones, but we would have done so if we had no choice, because we use this app every single day.

Another thing I love about it is the ability to share recipes with people. I can e-mail recipes to them and they have the choice of printing out the recipe, or importing the recipe directly into their Paprika app if they have it.

Importing recipes is a breeze as well. There have been very few recipes which I've actually had to type in. Most recipes I am able to import directly into the app. It's simply awesome.

Santa's Bag

iPhone

FREE

I stumbled upon this app in November in desperation to plan my Christmas shopping without having to carry a paper list around with me. This app was surprisingly easy to use right from the start.

I started by making a list of the people I had to shop for. I didn't bother with loading their pictures into the app because I was just trying the app out. Next year, I might add photos because I loved this app that much.

It was nice to be able to set a budget and then see how much I had left to spend. This is especially nice when you are trying to keep your spending the same among your kids.

Another feature I liked was the status field (purchased, wrapped, given). There's also a spot for location and notes. That's important for people like my mother who have a tendency to hide gifts, never to be seen again. The struggle is real.

Mom, if you're reading this, you need this app.

Miscellaneous

Life 360

iPhone, Android, Windows

FREE

I was introduced to this slightly creepy app by my mother. Basically, it's a stalking app. You can see where people who are in your circle are at any given time. In other words, you have to agree to be stalked.

After I joined my Mama Llama's circle, within days I was getting random texts from her throughout the day. "What are you buying at IKEA, Jilly?" or "Why are you still at school, Jilly?" or "Do you really need that Dairy Queen, Jilly?"

On the flip side, if you have kids, this app is dabomb.com. We put it on both of our girls' phones and they were warned that if we were not able to locate them at any time, they would lose their phones. After all, giving them cell phones was for our convenience, not theirs. Plus, we're control freaks. And since microchipping kids LoJack style is not an option, Stalking App it is.

Well, it only took a few months before Zoe's phone was off the grid for two hours before we had to engage Operation Wrath of Parents and confiscate her phone for an entire, heart-wrenching week. The story is that her phone was "accidentally" on airplane mode. She didn't know how it happened, blah, blah, blah, and there was blubbering and snot. I haven't seen such a display since the Tower of Terror episode at Disneyland. I explained to her that it doesn't matter if your phone "accidentally" turns on airplane mode, I will assume that it was "on purpose." Point made. Point taken. I'm sure it will never happen again because now she obsessively checks it. Because she cares deeply. And I love her sweet little, paranoid heart.

This app can also be convenient when you are waiting for people and you want to see where they are before you interrupt them with an unnecessary text message while they are driving. That's a pretty nifty thing.

Great Clips

iPhone, Android, online

FREE

This is a Line Jumping app. Maybe you don't get your hair cut at Great Clips, like Peanut Head, but the place you go to might have an app of it's own.

Whenever Peanut Head needs a haircut, he pulls up the app, looks at the wait time for a haircut, and decides if he wants to reserve a spot. Then when he gets there, he walks right in and walks by the ten other guys waiting to get their hair cut.

I asked him one time if he was ever tempted to stick his tongue out at all the guys waiting as he walked by them to get his hair cut before them.

He was not.

How much fun would that be though? So much fun.

Everlance (Business Mileage Tracking)

iOS/Android
FREE

I've been using my car a lot in my job this year, and this app is keeping track of all my mileage for me automatically. I don't have to remember to start and stop it, it just does it. I do have to go into it periodically and classify each trip, but it's super easy. I swipe left if it's Personal, and I swipe right if it's for Work.

Since I have that Goldfish brain, I've set a reminder to classify my mileage every night before I go to bed. You could do it as often as you want though.

All Things Books

Audible Audio Books
Smart Phone, Tablets, and Computer
Free App - Book Credit Subscription $14.95/month + 30% off Audiobooks Purchased

This app has changed my life. I'm not kidding. I started listening to audiobooks, which aren't cheap by the way, last summer and I was able to get so much done while listening to books. I refinished our kitchen table and chairs, refinished our stair railing and bannister, washed windows, decluttered and organized, painted, walked, folded laundry, and the list goes on and on. I'm even making major progress on Stinkerbell's cross stitch stocking because of this app. So far I haven't bought any books beyond my one credit a month. A credit is worth one book, any book that they have, and they have newly published books too, so it usually ends up being cheaper than what I would pay for the actual book.

OverDrive

Smart Phone, Tablets, and Computer
Free App

I've had this app on my phone for awhile, but I've only recently started using it. It's saving me a lot of money that would have been spent on books, because now I am checking digital and audiobooks out from my local library and my school district's library.

This is awesome because I don't have to worry about getting in my car to return books because they are automatically pulled off my device when they are due. If I need more time to read it, I can renew it from the comfort of my couch. The only exception to that is if someone has a hold on it I can't renew. So far, it hasn't really been a problem for me.

Kindle and Nook - Both Free

Smart Phone, Tablets, and Computer

I mainly use the Kindle app for reading books that I borrow from the library. You can download the book to the app, then you don't need internet access or cell service to read it. I've had the Nook app for a long time, and that's the app I use for purchasing digital books.

I imagine I'm going to be using the Nook app less than I have in the past because a lot of books that I want to read, I can just check out from the library. There are a few titles that I won't be able to borrow though, so I'll still need it sometimes. 

I understand that a lot of people prefer actual paper books, and I get that. It has taken me a couple years to actually prefer digital books over paper books.

Here are the reasons why I now prefer digital books over paper books:

• Access to a dictionary within the app (there are a lot of words I have to look up)
• Digital books don't take up space, and when I go on vacation, I can take ALL THE BOOKS.
• Digital books don't need dusting and they aren't heavy to move. Plus, less clutter.
• No matter which device you choose to read on at any given time, the apps sync to the furthest read page. Let's say you're getting your oil changed and you left your tablet at home. You dont even need it, pull out your phone and get reading right where you left off on your tablet at home.
• You can make notes and highlight text without ruining the book. You can remove those things with one click.
• The ability to search character names, places, or ideas. If you have the memory of a goldfish, like me, then you will use this feature often. Especially if you're reading a book with a lot of characters and you can't remember who is who, the app is super convenient.
• You can adjust text size and brightness. As we get older, our close-up vision goes to the birds. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just wait.

Goodreads
Smart Phone, Tablets, and Computer
FREE

Have you ever bought a book twice? Like you buy a book and you're super excited to read it, but then once you crack it open you realize that you've read it before, and you just wasted $15 on a book that you've already read. Yeah. Been there, done that.

But not anymore. Now I keep track of all the books I read and all the books I want to read in this app. You can also connect with your friends and find out what they're reading. You can read their reviews and additional reviews for any book that you want to read. It's awesome.

That being said, I should warn you, you might not have the same taste as your friends and that can be a lesson in itself.

This right here is what I'm talking about. This was a hideous book. And I'm not even going to blame my Goodreads friends for this one because I dove into this without consulting them. However, this book was on the Best Seller list, and I seriously think that we need to put new people in charge of that list.

I'm volunteering. Here, this is my review from Goodreads.

Wackadoo alcoholic stalker gets involved in the lives of other wackadoos and everyone is a walking train wreck. If they'd all just get hobbies, they might be interesting. Thankful that I listened to this as an audiobook while getting things done. This book is another example of how I can't trust that books on the bestseller list will be good.

I believe honesty is important in reviewing books that others might waste money on.

Education

Desmos (Graphing Calculator)

Smart Phone, Tablets, and Computer
FREE

I first discovered Desmos last year when I was graphing equations of lines with my eighth grade math students. I started with the online graphing calculator at Desmos.com and it is awesome.

Basically you type an equation into it and it will graph it for you. This was super convenient for me because I had short class periods and graphing takes a lot of time. With Desmos, I was able to project easy-to-read graphs without the time consuming task of plotting the y-intercept, plotting the next point using the slope, and finally drawing the line passing through the two points.

I think it's important to note, however, that I wouldn't show my students this app until they've had some experience with graphing by hand first, because that conceptual understanding of y-intercept and slope is super important.

We spent a lot of time on that last year, and towards the end of the unit is when I introduced Desmos.com.

It was one of my reluctant learners that found the Desmos app and shared it with me. He got excited about graphing equations when we used the online graphing calculator and then he went home and found the app. How cool is that?

Graphing calculators aren't cheap and many of our students already have smart phones, so this is the perfect solution.

Here are some screenshots I pulled off of the website. I like how you can save your graphs and view them again later. That's a big timesaver for teachers. Adding sliders is a pretty cool feature as well because you can see what happens to your graph as you change the values.

You can also tap any point on the graph and it will show you what the coordinates are at that point. Another cool thing that people are doing with the app is making pictures. Math is creative like that.

Power School

iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android

FREE

If you have kids, this app (or it's equivalent if your school district uses other grading software) is a must for checking their grades. You really have no excuse for not knowing where your kids stand academically. In fact, it's your job to know what your kids' grades are, and to hold them accountable.

This app makes it easier than ever. I have my app set to push me a notification whenever my girls' grades change. Usually there is a simple explanation and all it requires from me is that I ask them about it.

Common Core (Apps for Every State's Standards)

Apple, Android, Windows

FREE

If you are a teacher you definitely want one of these apps. I encourage parents to also have one of these apps so that you know what is expected of your student at each grade level.

The app on the left is the Common Core Standards app which includes standards for all grade levels. The one on the right is the Idaho Core Standards app, which is specific to Idaho. Mastery Connect makes both apps, as well as similar versions for other states. All the state versions are yellow with the state's silhouette. You can find your state by clicking on the Common Core link above.

When you go into the app you are given the choice of accessing the Standards or Resources. From there you can choose Mathematics, Language Arts, History/Social Studies, or Science.

This is an example of the Mathematical Practice Standards for Sixth Grade.

App Mind Set

Finding new apps is a mind set. You've got to always be asking yourself, "What do I loathe about this experience that an app could fix?" Chances are, there's an app for that.

A good example is the IKEA app. I was shopping with some friends and we were trying to keep track of our wish lists with paper, the cameras on our phones, and those stubby little pencils they provide, and it took me about three minutes before I was all "Enough! There has GOT to be an app for this!" 

And there was. I downloaded it on the spot and started scanning the stuff I was considering. Then at the end when I was ready to brave the warehouse, I pulled up a nice tidy little list complete with aisle numbers where I could find everything.

What can I say? I'm all about that app.

How to Decrapify a Kid's Bedroom in Four Short Days

Do you ever get what you think is going to be a great idea and then it turns out to be an epic flop? It happens to me a lot. So much that I've become pretty familiar with failure. We're pretty tight.

Well, a couple weeks ago I got one of those great ideas and I came up with a chore list for my girls to completely clean out their rooms, decrapify and spring clean, all without my supervision and nagging.

We are all kinds of crazy in this house.

I decided I was going to break it down, with very specific, anal instructions that went day by day over the course of a week.

I typed up a list and taped one to each of the girls' bedroom doors. Then I snapped a picture and posted it on Instagram and Facebook. I was so proud of myself. Then the doubt set in. What if my kids laughed at me and refused to comply?

I'm sure my kids are very typical in that they groan and complain whenever I ask them to do chores. Zoe especially. She acts like I'm asking her to give up a kidney when I ask her to do something as simple as water the garden.

Well, much to my surprise my girls complied without any prompting from me. In fact, it probably helped that I was out of the house all week at teacher education classes, and I wasn't able to check in on them. They stepped up and did everything on the list each day, and most days they even got a head start on the next day's list, just so they could get it done.

Here's how it went down.

Day #1 - Bed/Books

1. Take all bedding off bed and dust with a rag.

2. Wash all bedding and make bed.

3. Clean underneath bed: remove EVERYTHING and sweep or vacuum and mop.

4. Organize under bed (plastic containers with lids are in the guest room).

5. Go through books upstairs and downstairs and make a pile to donate. I expect to see your donate pile, so do not dump it in the guest room.

I don't know about you, but in this house the guest room is the dumping grounds, so whenever anyone has something they don't want anymore and they are too lazy to do something about it (myself included) we just dump it in the guest room to worry about another day. That day is usually the day before a guest arrives for a visit, at which point the pile may or may not be dealt with, and is sometimes hidden underneath the tables in my crafting area. 

Denial is my BFF.

Day #2 - Closet-A-Palooza

1. Remove everything from the closet and vacuum or sweep and mop in closet

2. Wash shelves and walls in closet with a rag and 409

3. Make a pile of shoes and clothes that no longer fit for donating.

4. Throw away trash and set aside anything you wish to donate. I expect to see your donate pile, so do not dump it in the guest room.

5. Return things to your closet that you are keeping. Dust them off as you go, and put them away neatly.

As you can see, I'm very sensitive and mistrusting about the dumping of the crap in the guest room.

This is Zoe's closet after decrapification. I realize that it may not look like much, but I feel I should reiterate that this is Zoe's closet. She's my hoarding baby and she will keep gum wrappers because the trash can is so far away.

I am very, very proud of the work she did especially because organizing and cleaning has never been her thing.

It is such an incredibly painful process to clean out her room because we have very different standards and she thinks that I'm an OCD freak and completely unrealistic about the way her room should look.

Maybe, but I'm the boss and she has to listen to me because I'm bigger. And meaner. And her mom, dang it.

I know we clean her room at least once a year, but I don't have an explanation for this shirt that clearly has not fit her for years.

Day #3 - Dresser

1. Put everything in your hamper in the washing machine and start a load.

2. Take everything out of your dresser and place it on your neatly made bed.

3. Vacuum out dresser drawers and dust outside of dresser with furniture polish.

4. Carefully fold clothes and return those that still fit and you intend to wear to your dresser. Follow the Kon Marie Method of folding (look it up if you weren't paying attention).

5. Carefully fold clothes to donate and make a separate pile. Leave it on your bed.

6. Move clothes in the washer to the dryer and make sure all of your laundry is folded and put away.

So I've been reading that book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, and I was sort of joking about #4. Although the book has some great advice, like most self help books do, I feel like the author could have said what she needed to say with a whole lot fewer words.

And the whole idea of thanking the stuff that I'm purging for its service and the joy it has brought me just makes me roll my eyes. Ain't nobody got time for that.

If I'm going to be talking to my clothes as I kick them to the curb it's going to be a whole lot more satisfying than that mess. I might say "I never liked the way you made my butt look you sorry excuse for a pair of jeans!"

I could maybe get behind that, but still, unnecessary waste of time in my world.

Day #4 - Everything Else

1. Move all furniture and clean behind and underneath.

2. Clean all furniture with furniture polish.

3. Wipe down lower walls, baseboards, and chair rails with a rag and soapy water (use a bucket of warm water with a drop of dish soap in it). Use 409 on hard to clean spots.

4. Wipe down window casing and clean inside of window.

5. Declutter!!!! By this, I mean make a pile of things to donate and throw away things that are junk. I want to see your donate pile, so don't just dump it in the guest room.

6. Organize your stuff. Everything should have a place and everything should be in its place. Surfaces should be clear. Nothing should be on the floor if it is not a piece of furniture.

7. Ask your sister to look over your room and give you constructive, polite criticism.

Notice the guest room/crap disclaimer is there again. I'm very, very twitchy about it.

I will tell you right now that #7 is a potential mine field. I knew this when I typed it but I did it anyway because I wanted to see if they could handle it. That, and I like cheap entertainment.

However, to my surprise, again, they handled themselves beautifully and even worked together at times.

This is Zoe's room at the end of decrapification. Zoe's room never looks like this. Never. This was a big deal for her to do with zero help from me. And Hallelujah, because I loathe participating in this particular aspect of parenting my children.

And this is Stinkerbell's room. To be honest, this whole purge, clean, organize thing was just a typical day in the life of Stinkerbell. She has always been obviously my child as far as cleaning, organizing, and all things domestic go.

Except for that brief period of time in her preschool years when she curated some very disturbing collections of fingernail clippings and crumbs from each day's preschool snack hidden in her closet.

Now, I'm sure many of you are wondering how I encouraged my kids to do this without some sort of threat or motivation, so I'm going to fess up right now and tell you that I used both.

In fact, at the bottom of their lists was the following statement.

There will be a military-like inspection every day at 5:00 p.m. I expect you to be in your room and ready for inspection. If I am happy with the result, you will receive a REWARD. If I am not happy, you will receive a CONSEQUENCE. Do not disappoint me. J

I didn't think this part through very well and most days I couldn't tell you what that day's reward was going to be. The girls would ask me and I would fake them out and tell them "It's a surprise. You'll have to wait and see."

I didn't have to come up with any consequences because they met the deadline to my satisfaction every day. And thank goodness, because I could see myself raising my arms over my head threateningly and yelling "RAWR!" at them or something ridiculous like that. In reality I'm sure I could deliver, if pressed.

I don't think they should know ahead of time what the reward or consequence will be because they might decide the reward wasn't worth it or the consequence was not a big deal. Anticipation is king.

The first day the reward was the biggest because I wanted them to get excited. I took them to the book store and let each of them pick out a new book. 

The second day we took them out for ice cream after dinner.

The third day I gave each of them $5.

The fourth day I told them that I was going to take them to the museum for the Pirates exhibit they've been wanting to see. And nobody has to know that I was going to take them anyway.

I can honestly say it was worth every penny, and I will be making this a yearly project every summer.

It was such a success in my world, that we have moved onto other areas of the house. In this picture they are cleaning out our coat closet. The possibilities are endless!

Rodents in the House #notinmylife

 

Sort of an ominous start to a post, isn't it? Well, yes, it is, but this is my life.

The life wherein since I've had kids I'm perpetually adding one more thing to that laughable list of "Things I'll Never Do."

Somewhere on that list is this.

My children will never be allowed to have caged animals.

It all started with Zoe Bug's science teacher, Mrs. Odell. You see, Mrs. Odell, evil educator that she is, taught my child how to make a Power Point.

That's right, she taught my Zoe Bug a marketable skill.

Tomorrow we home school.

Seriously though, Zoe Bug learned how to make Power Points, and now she thinks she's all that. Not only does she think she's all that, but she's using her new found skill to persuade her parents to do things they said they would never do.

Banding together with her sister, she and Stinkerbell created this most persuasive, and very well researched collection of gerbil factoids combined with a subversive plea to allow them to bring a pooping, caged rodent into my house.

My house.

And where is my backbone, you ask?

At the hospital with the placentas.

Excuse me, but I'm slightly distracted here. I'm curious to hear what a raspy breathing gerbil sounds like.

Are we talking Darth Vader sounding or harmonica sounding?

And correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think the cage needs to be cleaned every day. That's another one of those gifts I received upon having kids.

Dog Nose.

Ha! These kids know who their audience is. Appealing to our desire for no poop.

And what are they talking about "you can just feed them veggies out of our fridge?" We don't eat veggies. On purpose.

I love the reference to the grumpy morning person. I tell you what, it's not me.

They're going to "cross that bridge when we come to it?" I'm laughing here.

This whole Gerbil conversation started around Christmas, and Peanut Head and I have been against it from the beginning.

Hence the placating Power Point appealing to our inner nerds.

Admittedly, we did think it was cute. Peanut Head even went so far as to teach the girls how to make an Excel spreadsheet to outline the costs down to the last cent.

As a hypothetical projection, of course.

These slides were created for the Addendum Power Point based on the Excel spreadsheet with the itemized list and cost projections.

Upon seeing the cold hard truth, I was hopeful that my children would not be able to exert the discipline required to save such a large sum. Mostly.

Part of me was a little excited to see them care so much about something that they were inspired to plan and save their money instead of spend it on the equivalent of endless amounts of Happy Meal toys.

Parents loathe Happy Meal toys.

Oh dear. I can't let this one go without talking about it.

First, fish. Have we talked about the fish?

Probably not, but that was something else on the list.

We will never have fish because fish swim in their own poop.

I excel at failure, I'm just going to put that out there right now.

And the fish, the fish. Zoe Bug could not keep a fish alive to save her life.

We had so many fish die in this house, I could have opened up a seafood restaurant.

So many fish that I was inspired to tweet poetry.

Fish die, and kids cry

And parents ask "Why?"

Wouldn't you die, if you swam in

Your own poop, like it was soup?

An inspired poem.

By the way, Zoe Bug did not think it was funny.

For that matter, she does not think I am funny. At all. Ever.

And that reference to helping out with the vet bills? Ha.

Meet our veterinarian, Dr. Lucinda Gooseberry. She specializes in rodents.

This one's my favorite. I shall be checking all of these links and if I find that you have plagiarized this Power Point in part or in whole, there will be NO GERBILS!

There will be NO GERBILS!

Ahem. Yeah. So you can see where this is going, right?

Stinkerbell turned eleven yesterday, and the scheming little monster disbursed her tentacles of technology to appeal to our relatives to send her Petsmart and Petco gift cards for her birthday.

And they did.

And so we went here.

Armed with the Master Plan.

And bought lots of stuff, not having to spend as much of their own cash as they had planned, but still enough for them to really feel it.

However, it did not deter them from marching on to the second place that is the Keeper of Gerbils.

And food. For the Gerbils, not the Gerbils as food.

Although maybe because our vet.

The setting up was great fun.

Um, this. Really?

Somehow I can't quite picture it.

This tank has been arranged and rearranged countless times for their comfort.

They settled in right away.

And they were named. Lightning and Kat.

Irony lives.

Our Veterinarian was kind enough to welcome the rodents to their new home.

And her lovely assistant, Nurse Gunny Bun-Bun.

She is ever hopeful that they will fall ill and require her assistance.

Come to me, My Pretties.

So yeah, rodents. What's next?